Document copiers, facsimile machines, optical character recognition systems, and many other modern devices depend on accurately capturing an image formed on a physical medium. Towards that end, scientists and engineers have implemented a great number of improvements in the field of image processing in general, and the acquisition of electronic image representations in particular.
Conventional devices often have difficulty in capturing an image on two sided documents. In particular, when a two sided image is scanned by one of these devices, the image, text, or other mark on the back of the document often “bleeds-through” into the desired image on the front side.
Some devices, such as copiers and facsimile machines, provide a manual adjustment dial to reduce the occurrence of bleed-through. While the manual adjustment can lessen the effects of bleed-through, the adjustment itself can be a source of additional problems. In particular, the manual adjustment is a trial and error process. Using a trial and error adjustment process until acceptable results are obtained is generally time consuming and wasteful. Additionally, using a manual adjustment to attempt to compensate for bleed-through often results in the desired image/text being lightened. When implemented on a facsimile machine, correct manual adjustment can be problematic. For example, a facsimile sender is typically unaware of adjustment problems unless a recipient contacts him and requests that the document be resent. It is clear that a manual adjustment approach to eliminating bleed-through can be wasteful, time consuming, and generally yields less than acceptable results.